A faith born in the shadows cast by a single candle in a tightly curtained room of a small farming village in China emerging from the repression of the Cultural Revolution in the early 1980s blossomed on February 4 in the chapel of the Columban Seminary in Manila, as Peter knelt before Bishop Honesto Ongtioco to be ordained a deacon, becoming a minister of the word of God that he had imbibed in the clandestine darkness of his home so many years before.

Peter Dong, from China, was ordained as deacon by Most Rev. Honesto F. Ongtioco, Bishop of the Diocese of Cubao, on Sunday, February 4, 2018 at the Columban House of Studies in Cubao, Quezon City. Included in this article is an excerpt of Bsp Ongtioco's homily.

Fr Leonito Distor is from Marbel, South Cotabato and is the fifth of six siblings. He was installed as the First Filipino Columban Parish Priest of Our Lady of Remedies Parish, Malate, Manila on May 1, 2014. He is currently a member of the Regional Council of the Society of St. Columban in the Philippines.